Training for your first tri? Got questions about running during pregnancy? Need diabetic fueling strategies for a marathon? Want to know what comes next after you’ve bought your first pair of running shoes? Heartbroken after a break up with your running partner?

Runners love Coach Jenny because her answers are drawn from a deep well of wisdom rooted in her own struggles. Once upon a time Coach Jenny couldn’t run around the block without bursting into tears. Her big dream was to lose thirty pounds and run a 5k race.

Coach Jenny possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of running. She’s funny, thoughtful, thorough, professional and serious all at the same time. Her passion for running and for inspiring others to run comes shining through.

Run mindfully and with patience and have fun. So many of us are looking for that quick fix. Pass into your inner runner gracefully. You can always learn and evolve. You can always improve your performance. Every run is a chance to run farther, faster, with better form, with less aches and pains. There’s always a way to enjoy the journey and it truly is about the journey. Function and fun would be the two core words I would use.

CJ ON BUILDING A STRONG RUNNING FOUNDATION

What is a good foundation? It depends on the person. Learn the fundamentals first. Learn to run with good form. Allow your body time to adapt to the impact of running. Be conservative. Give yourself time to grow into whatever your goal is.

A good foundation for a beginning runner is running/walking three to four times a week for 30-60 minutes. Once you’ve established a good foundation you can do a long training run, a moderate training run, short interval session during a week.

Don’t focus on volume–a lot of mileage. Focus on quality. A mortal runner doesn’t have to put in a ton of miles.

Mix in some cross training[13]. Weave in activities that you enjoy. The more variety I include in my plan the better I feel. I’ve started doing a class that combines Ballet and Pilates and it’s had a profound impact on my performance. Experiment. Don’t be afraid to take a day away from your running routine.

Wear a heart rate monitor[14] and learn how to work within your heart rate zones so that you’re really benefiting from your running. Invest in a VO2 Max test[15] at a sport clinic or do a self-test to establish your HR Zones. Sally Edwards has a new book[16] that guides you through establishing your HR Zones.

CJ ON INTERVAL TRAINING

Intervals are a tool in the toolbox. You won’t be able to find an elite athlete who doesn’t do intervals as a core workout within a more serious program. Intervals increase your Vo2Max, fire up your metabolism (for nearly an hour to an hour and a half after you’ve finished running) and strengthen your core, legs and mental state.

There are a lot of flavors and varieties of intervals just like there are a lot of flavors and varieties of coffee. For people who are just getting off the couch mixing seconds of running with minutes of walking, they are doing intervals. They’re doing the same thing elite runners are doing.

Doing intervals you’re getting above the red line, shifting fuel storage, your breathing rates are elevated, you’re working at a very high intensity level. From a physiological standpoint the body is learning to utilize oxygen more efficiently. When you go all out you will not able to hold that pace very long. The longer that interval goes the slower the runner needs to go. You want to run the last interval just as strong as the first. Finish strong and fatigued but not wasted. When you finish feeling wasted then it becomes the last thing you want to do. When you finish strong (happy), you’ll want to do it again soon.

CJ ON LONG SLOW DISTANCE VS INTERVALS FOR INCREASING STRENGTH, TIME AND DISTANCE.

There are 850 different answers on that subject. Doing intervals and doing long slow distance are both great. With either one you’re burning a lot more fat then when you’re sitting in a chair.

On a long slow run, when you’re running in that happy zone, you’re breathing really easy and you can talk out loud without gasping for air. Many of us are guilty of not running enough in that zone. Many runners, mortal runners, run way to fast. You should have the patience to run in that happy zone. That might mean for some, running and walking, slowing your pace way down.

When you’re running long slow distance you’re also learning how to spend time on your feet.

My philosophy: It’s not one or the other; it’s about really having a good variety. If you’re not training for an event you have the liberty to mix and match. Having a mixture keeps you mentally fresh. It’s like making chili–You add a little of this and a little of that—intervals are just part of your recipe.

I’m a huge gadget fan. But what’s happened is we’ve gone from using a watch for a time reference to looking at the watch for the reference. Heart rate monitors are incredible tools but you need to go by your body first, how you feel, letting the pace be the guide, not the numbers. Your body doesn’t know pace. It knows effort. Tune in to how your body is doing and what’s going on in the moment.

It really is about keeping things simple. Remember the goal of the workout. Let the gadgets inform your body and the numbers be the outcome.

Even now Coach Jenny is hard at work in her secret laboratory working on The Next Big Thing for runners. Partnering with PEAR Sports[17] Jenny is producing a series of innovative, cutting edge, highly customizable audio training plans based on the body’s input. It’ll be like having Coach Jenny design your training plan and personally coach you through your runs. Maybe she’ll even tell you to slow down and find your happy zone.